Spirituality as a Level-IV defence mechanism is definitely useful for the individual and therefore liberation (moksha) had the sanction of tradition. A broad division of labour based on age (four ashramas) and aptitude (four varnas) got stabilized for realization of the aim (four purusharthas). Religion also stepped in to translate these ideals by mass producing variations catering to popular culture.

When The Mother & Sri Aurobindo ambitiously embarked upon building a spiritual society, the past principles went haywire. The individual’s journey was within a manageable limit of a few decades, whereas the society’s progress covers a much longer span of history. Effectuation, evaluation, and interpretation of a progressively transforming reality are obviously fraught with problems. Besides, the inter-personal dynamics dictating politics, economics, and procreation (power, wealth, and sex) are too entrenched in primordial laws and instincts.

Spirituality, as held by The Mother & Sri Aurobindo, is to leapfrog from the echelon of individual realization (psychicization) to being immersed in the ocean (varuna, vastness, wideness) of universality (spiritualization) which, in turn, dovetails into the causal cauldron level (supramentalization). What fundamental modification would these higher realms of consciousness entail is within the womb of the future and difficult to speculate. But, the good news is that human imagination and action are the only portals through which they will manifest. The abhorrence of the mental, therefore, needs to be moderated. [TNM]